The ‘MacGyver’ creators on rebooting an ‘80s favorite and the long shadow of ‘MacGruber’

After a protracted opening bit in which he semi-seriously attempted to pull a “MacGyver” and charge his phone with a lemon, a copper penny and a paper clip, writer-producer Peter Lenkov finally admitted it would take six lemons to finish the job and talked about his process in bringing the ’80s action series back to life.

“I wanted this show to stand out a little bit from the original,” said Lenkov, who also adapted the ’60s staple “Hawaii Five-O” for a modern audience. “I looked at it and said, what can I do to make it look and feel a little different?”

Among the changes are giving the 21st century edition of MacGyver, played by Lucas Till from the “X-Men” franchise, a larger team which includes “Swiss Army knife in human form” George Eads from “CSI.” Though the producers plan to honor the original series’ penchant for comparably lo-fi problem-solving, MacGyver will also benefit from a significantly altered technological landscape. However, in accordance with Lenkov’s opening bit, it’s the same DIY-oriented character.

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“He’s not a guy who’s going to have his problems solved with an app,” Lenkov said. “Technology is so prevalent these days that it’s still going to play a role in the show, but ‘paper clip’ is still number six on the call sheet.”

The project was initially set to be adapted for CBS by a team that included R. Scott Gemmill from “NCIS: LA,” but Lenkov came on for a new pilot that was directed by horror movie veteran James Wan. “The previous version was kind of like a dress rehearsal for what we did,” said Wan. “We’re actually better off for it.”

When asked if Will Forte’s recurring “Saturday Night Live” character (and star of the 2010 film spoof) “MacGruber” could have any negative impact on his process, Lenkov waved off the idea. “I look at it as if you’re spoofed on ‘Saturday Night Live’ or Mad Magazine, you’ve made it,” he said. “In fact, we talk about ‘MacGruber’ all the time because we’re all fans of it.”

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“I personally am looking forward to Kenan Thompson playing me on ‘Saturday Night Live,’” said Justin Hires, who will play MacGyver’s roommate in the series.

“We try to keep it light and acknowledge it right away,” said Till, who said he would often reference some of the lines from the film between takes with Eads. “Because when I first read the pilot, the first 10 pages I was kind of laughing because I was imagining it being MacGruber.”

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